Bucks will not #OwnTheFuture with Derrick Rose
Jason Terry is still available to bring back. Or Brandon Jennings.
So much for #OwnTheFuture.
Reports out Monday were that the Milwaukee Bucks were meeting with 28-year-old Derrick Rose. The team also reportedly is trying to either clear cap space or sign-and-trade for him with the New York Knicks.
I suggest the Bucks look at re-signing 39-year-old Jason Terry instead. Is it weird that a Bucks spokesman would not comment on the reported meeting with Rose? I don’t know what that means.
Milwaukee’s hashtag campaign does need to change at some point but it shouldn’t be #MortgageTheFuture.
The Bucks already did that last year by investing $117 million in John Henson, Matthew Dellavedova and Mirza Teletovic – now laughable signings when the salary cap jumped by millions and teams couldn’t contain themselves.
Now, it appears the first-year Bucks general manager Jon Horst is trying to make a splash of his own.
If Milwaukee wants to sign a selfish point guard with little shooting ability, the Knicks are also letting Brandon Jennings walk and he’d cost barely more than $1 million.
Bringing in Rose, who shot 21.7 percent from beyond the arc last year, solves nothing. The Bucks’ dilemma is shooting.
Rose is a terrible shooter. He is also not a great passer. These seem like, possibly, the only two things you’d want in a point guard. I won’t get into his defense.
Rose hasn’t averaged over five assists since 2011-12 – a year he only played 39 games, before blowing out his knee in those playoffs. He’s never been the same.
Clearing cap space to lock him up on a multi-year deal fills me with rage. If it’s a one-year deal, then perhaps, but that is not what a sign-and-trade would entail.
The Bucks are over the cap this season, since re-signing Tony Snell to a four-year, $44-million deal and Greg Monroe opting into his final year.
Side note: Monroe’s $17.8 million contract becomes very enticing trade bait.
Next season, the Bucks could be about $15 million under the cap if everything stays close to the same (the cap actually went down this season).
Jabari Parker will be a restricted free agent and there’s no telling what happens there, as he’s due to come back from his second ACL tear right around the trade deadline.
He could get an offer from another team that forces the Bucks to spend all its cap money matching or watch him walk..
He could let the Bucks use their cap space to sign another free agent, before he re-signs.
He could be too injured to do anything but play out the fifth and final year of his rookie contract and hit free agency after next season, unrestricted.
It’s all unknown but what’s not is bringing in Rose.
